There are currently a large number of devices within corporations and households that require physical wiring in order to communicate with each other. This is particularly evident in an office environment where a “fully connected” computer may have wiring connections to a monitor, a keyboard, a printer, and a central server. Some computers may further be physically coupled to scanners and/or facsimile machines. To accommodate the needs of a typical office worker, networks have been established in a majority of medium to large office environments to reduce the required number of printers and other possible shared devices such as scanners. These networks further allow for each networked computer to be connected to a central server in which files and news can be shared, overall backup and security operations for the entire network can be performed, internal email services can be established, and internal and external communications can be controlled. The functionality of these networks have been deemed essential to the efficient operation of an office workplace.
There are a number of key problems with these network configurations as they currently exist. For one, network designs can become extremely complex as more devices are added, resulting in complicated wiring arrangements in many cases. In these wiring arrangements, the network is configured by physically laying wire, which is time consuming and difficult to adjust when adding or removing devices. Further, in some wiring arrangements, computers may be coupled within the network to some devices, such as printers, only through other computers that must stay powered in order for the connection to remain. Another key problem with wired networks as currently designed is the physical limitation the actual wiring itself causes on the network. The use of wired connections essentially limits the network to devices that are within a single location, with few options for remote access. Hence, as currently designed, wired networks are not practical for the growing mobile workforce.
One attempt to overcome the problems experienced by current wired network configurations is to use wireless communications based upon the operation of a new standard called Bluetooth. A Bluetooth transceiver as currently conceived is a short range radio transceiver operating in the 2.45 GHz unlicensed band. The implementation of Bluetooth transceivers within a wide variety of devices such as mobile telephones, laptop computers, printers, and electronic cameras is envisioned for the future. For instance, Internet connections for a laptop could be established via a Bluetooth link to a mobile telephone and further a standard wireless link to a wireless telephone network coupled to a Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Further ideas include having a Bluetooth link between an electronic camera and a printer, the printer producing copies of all photographs taken by the camera.
There are a number of problems with the Bluetooth vision for wireless devices. For one, the short-range links have a limited applicability and do not solve the problems discussed herein above concerning remote access to a wired network or the problems of mobile workers. Further, for Bluetooth to be successful, a large proportion of corporations that produce the computers, mobile telephones, printers, cameras, etc must agree to implement a common new standard. Currently, this is not the case with many major corporations refusing to recognize and implement the new standard. Yet further, the frequency range selected for Bluetooth communications is the same as several established local wireless technologies which could cause packets of data from different sources to interfere, resulting in degraded performance.
Access to wired networks from remote locations outside the network's wiring architecture is currently possible, though these techniques do not reduce the other problems discussed herein above for a wired network. One option for achieving this remote access is by allowing people to dial up and register with the network. One problem with this is the difficulties of dialling up and logging into a network which is typically a secure network for a corporation. Further, although it is possible to connect through dial up, this technique does not allow for the connection to be maintained at all times as these connections are strictly “on” or “off”.
A technique currently used to allow for connections to be maintained at all times between remote locations and a central network is with use of reserved bandwidth on a PSTN. This technique, which creates a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for the user, is used by many banks and other businesses that have numerous locations of business that all must be connected to a central network. Unfortunately, this technique can be impractical for small businesses due to the cost and complexity of such a system. Further, it does not aid a mobile workforce, as this technique still requires physical connections that cannot easily move with the workers.
Hence, an improved networking system is required that does not have the limitations of a wired network. Preferably this improved network system could be accessible to the mobile workforce while at the same time capable of being implemented within an office environment.